Following the rapid development in the electronic and information industrial fields, all kinds of electronic products, such as computers and notebook computers, have been more widely adopted among users and applied to various fields. For example, among different electronic products, the central processing unit (CPU) of the currently available computers has increased computing and processing speed and expanded access capacity. However, the CPU operating at high speed would also produce a large amount of heat during the operation thereof.
Similarly, when an electronic device operates, internal electronic elements thereof will produce a large amount of heat. Thus, an additional heat dissipating unit is required to enhance heat dissipation of the electronic device, lest the electronic elements thereof should have lowered working efficiency or become damaged due to overheating. The heat dissipating unit is usually a radiating fin assembly or a heat sink with at least one cooling fan assembled thereto, so that the cooling fan produces cooling airflow toward the heat dissipating unit to forcedly carry away the heat transferred to the heat dissipating unit and thereby upgrade the overall heat dissipation performance of the electronic device. The radiating fin assembly or the heat sink is usually firmly connected to the heat-producing electronic elements via a mounting rack to efficiently transfer and dissipate the heat produced by the electronic elements.
FIG. 1A shows a first conventional mounting rack structure 1, which includes a rack body 11 having an upper side 12, to which a cooling fan and/or a radiating fin assembly can be mounted, and a plurality of supporting legs 13 downward extended from four corners of the upper side 12. The supporting legs 13 each have a round mounting hole 14 formed near a distal end thereof, so that a spring screw 15 can be extended through the round mounting hole 14 to engage with a jam nut 16 and therefore be held to the supporting leg 13. The use of the spring screws 15 depends on the actual need in connecting the mounting rack structure 1 to a heat-producing unit.
FIG. 1B shows a second conventional mounting rack structure 2, which includes a rack body 21 having an upper side 22 and a plurality of supporting legs 23 downward extended from four corners of the upper side 22. The supporting legs 23 each have an oblong mounting hole 24 formed near a distal end thereof, so that an upper part 25 and a lower part 26 of a push-type screw assembly can be extended through the oblong mounting hole 24 to engage with each other and therefore be held to the supporting leg 23. The use of the upper and lower parts 25, 26 of a push-type screw assemblies depends on the actual need in connecting the mounting rack structure 2 to a heat-producing unit.
Both of the conventional mounting rack structures 1, 2 can be connected to a circuit board or a backplate of the heat-producing unit. However, the spring screws 15 can only be used with the round mounting holes 14 on the mounting rack structure 1 to lock the supporting legs 13 to the heat-producing unit. When the spring screws 15 are used with the oblong mounting holes 24, the spring screws 15 can not be firmly held in the oblong mounting holes 24. Similarly, the upper and the lower parts 25, 26 of the push-type screw assemblies can not be used with the round mounting holes 14. Therefore, the mounting rack structures 1, 2 are not exchangeable with each other for use. A manufacturer has to expend extra money to make two molds for forming two mounting rack structures having differently shaped mounting holes.
In brief, the conventional mounting rack structures have the following disadvantages: (1) They are not exchangeable for use; and (2) increased cost is required to make molds for forming different mounting rack structures.
It is therefore tried by the inventor to develop a mounting hole adapter for mounting rack structure, so that the same mounting rack can be used with different types of fastening elements and the cost for making additional molds can be saved.